The Spanish harpsichordist and Jacobs School alumnus Ignacio Prego de Oliver is the first prize winner at the 2012 Westfield International Harpsichord Competition, organized by the Smithsonian Institution, the Westfield Center and the University of Maryland. Competition participants hailed from Germany, France, China, Taiwan, Finland, South Africa, the United States, Korea, Russia, Estonia, Canada and Spain.

Prego de Oliver received MM and PD degrees in harpsichord from the Jacobs School, where he was a student of Elisabeth Wright. He also received a MM degree in piano, having studied with Emile Naoumoff and Shigeo Neriki.

The week’s program consisted of three segments in which the participating harpsichordists interpreted the music of J.S. Bach, Scarlatti, Marchand, William Byrd, Louis and François Couperin, Frescobaldi, Froberger, Haydn, and C.P.E. Bach. The jury consisted of harpsichordists of world renown including: Arthur Haas, Davitt Moroney, Charlotte Mattax Moersch, Christine Schornscheim and Kenneth Slowik.

Prego, who now resides in New York, was awarded $7500 as well as a concert tour at prestigious venues in the United States. The Second Prize in the amount of $3500 was awarded to the Estonian harpsichordist Julia Ageyeva Hess, while the Third Prize in the amount of $2500 went to the American Stephen Gamboa.

Prego recently released a CD under the Verso label entitled “Chromatic Fantasy” which is exclusively dedicated to the music of J.S. Bach and which was presented in a concert on June 7th sponsored by the Washington Performing Arts Society.